The Hufflepuff
by Sweethoneytwilight
Summary: Draco's first encounter with Astoria. One shot. Prequel to The Life and Loves of a House Elf.


I'm trying to do one shots and let out my extra ideas. Hope you guys like my Draco/Astoria paring. I noticed a lot of writers make Astoria a Slytherin or Ravenclaw. What if she was a Hufflepuff?

I don't know about you guys but me and my sisters may argue with each other but if you touch my sister all bets are off.

* * *

"How the bloody hell are you a Hufflepuff?" Draco asked the little girl.

"Honestly? The Sorting Hat put me in this House because he said it would calm me down." She said in amusement, the corners of her full lips went up in a grin. "Now out of my way, loser." She commanded him like he was an insect beneath her feet.

How dare she speak to him, Draco Malfoy, in this manner!

"Where do you think you're going?" demanded Draco but she walked around him without a care. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. The force caused her to fall against his body, hard. Both of them felt an electric shock where they were connected that temporary surprised them.

She blinked and snapped out of the trace before him. She looked up at him with a warning glare, silently willing him to release her arm. Draco smirked at her. What was she going to do? Hit him?

"Ouch!"

Well, she actually did. With a stinging hex no less. The hand that was touching her arm stung like he was getting bitten by a thousand ants.

"You have no right to touch me, you insignificant worm."

Draco tightened his grip on her arm and attempted to snatch her wand out of her other hand. She kneed him in the crotch, which made him loosen his grip on her, and ran. She turned back and laughed at him once she was far enough.

That little badger had a death wish!

Draco had always thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to have students who were kind and played fair. That was not true at all. This little girl was neither kind nor did she play fair. She had purposely worn a necklace with a gold pendant to the match between Slyhterin and Hufflepuff. The sunlight had reflected the stupid thing causing him to mistake it for the Snitch. She had lured him away while her Seeker searched for the real one. He was madly flying around the pitch in vain. He realized too late that the other Seeker had already spotted the real Snitch and was chasing it. Hufflepuff won the match.

It was completely humiliating. Worse than losing to Gryffindor. No matter how much Draco despised him, he had to accept that Saint Potter played fair. Hufflepuff House on the other hand was filled with deceit. Especially that girl!

He had to find out who she was and get revenge.

Draco followed that the direction she went and found her in a corner with one of his housemates, Daphne Greengrass. They appeared to be arguing about something but he arrived too late and couldn't figure out what it was.

"Sorry." said the Hufflepuff, although she obviously wasn't. "Wasn't listening. Can't stop staring at that zit on your nose."

Daphne's mouth dropped open as she unleashed a deafening scream. She cupped her nose and ran the other direction.

"Better take care of it before it pops out pimple babies all over your face!" the Hufflepuff called after her. She snickered and went off.

Draco followed but he lost her along the way. The next few days he searched for the Hufflepuff to no avail. Not one appeared to know her. Even her teammates are annoyingly tight-lipped about her. He had since turned his attention to Daphne, questioning her about the Hufflepuff. Daphne was of no help.

"As if I'd know any Hufflepuffs." She denied with a twist of her full lips.

It was in that moment when it hit Draco. He recognized those lips. They were pink, full, and perfectly symmetrical. They were the same as the Hufflepuff's.

"You're related!"

Daphne gasped. "Shut up!" she pulled his shirt and shook him. "I will kill you if you tell anyone!"

"As if you can try –oh!"

Daphne roughly threw him against the stone wall and he got the wind knocked out of him. Further evidence they were related, both are scary when they turn violent.

"Swear you won't share this with anyone or I will make life difficult for you, Draco Malfoy." Daphne hissed at him.

He didn't doubt it and nodded his head in compliance.

"Why do you want to know about that Hufflepuff, anyways?" asked Daphne.

"To talk."

Daphne snorted in disbelief. "I'll tell you now, whatever you plan on doing to her, she'll get you back ten times worse."

"Know this from experience?"

"You know what, I was joking. Go ahead. Do whatever you want with her." She said innocent, yet menacingly. "She's a total brat that deserves what she gets. Do it Draco I support you."

Draco was taken aback by her shift in behavior and words. It sounded like a trap. Was she manipulating him? Was she using him as a tool to avenge the Hufflepuff for teasing her about her pimples the other day? He wanted revenge as well but he was not going to be someone's tool.

"Okay." He lied.

After parting from Daphne, Draco went in search of Pansy. She loved gossip. Chances are she knew how the Hufflepuff was related to Daphne. He realized after asking her that it was mistaken.

"Why are you asking about Daphne?" she sneered.

He couldn't get anything from Pansy except that. Pansy's jealous rage got him nowhere. Next, he asked Blaise, which he realized now that he was the first person he should have went too.

"Daphne? She's got a sister. I think."

"Do you know her name?"

"Probably something to do with stars, flowers, or ancient Greek nymphs."

The information was useful but minimum. As Draco walked down an empty corridor, the Hufflepuff appeared in front of him, about twenty feet away. She had her wand drawn, challenging him. He marched toward her, reaching for his wand. As he grew closer he spotted Daphne appearing behind the Hufflepuff. Her usually perfectly styled blonde hair was wild and messy. Her clothing he saw was ripped at places. Her bruised face appeared as if she had been attacked.

"Stupefy!" shouted the Hufflepuff.

Draco fell on the floor and lost conscious. He awoke some time later, hanging upside down in the middle of the empty Great Hall. His robes were gone. All that was left were his underpants. Below him were the Hufflepuff and Daphne, whose appearance had returned to her normally prime and proper self. She was sitting on a table and watching him.

"This is for sending Pansy and her dogs to attack me!" said Daphne.

"I didn't do it!" he protested. Damn! He knew he should have never asked Pansy about Daphne. Pansy probably attacked Daphne, thinking he was interested in her.

The Hufflepuff stepped forward.

"Daphne hates you! We were planning on getting revenge on you!" Draco shouted to turn the two of them against each other.

The Hufflepuff looked at Daphne and shrugged. "The bigger issue is: she was hurt and it's your fault! You touch my sister you get this!"

She took out a camera and took pictures of while Daphne laughed mockingly at him. He screamed in frustration at them, demanding they put him down, and give him that camera.

"Put me down! You perverts!" he screamed to no avail.

Once they were done torturing him, she took Daphne's hand and led her away.

"Come, Queenie," the Hufflepuff said to Daphne, "tell me who those girls are and I'll get them back for you."

"Humiliate them but nothing bloody." requested Daphne with glee.

"Anything you want, Queenie."

"You can't leave me here!" He screamed after them. "Come back! Put me down you lunatic!"

As Draco spun in a slow circle his thoughts turned to the Hufflepuff. The Sorting Hat might have been attempting to calm her as she had claimed but he could see that being placed in Hufflepuff did little Greengrass no good. Her proper place was in Slytherin. She was as demented as his aunt Bellatrix, and that's really saying something here.

He felt sorry for the poor bloke who marries her.


End file.
